There’s been a lot happening in Australia over the last six weeks. Lockdowns. Protests. Border closures. Climbing COVID cases. It’s no wonder if you missed the fact ALDI Australia recently announced it’s temporarily pulling its high-demand Special Buys from some of its stores in NSW lockdown areas.
If you remember, last year during the pandemic, ALDI’s Special Buys attracted crowds to its stores, sparking controversy. As a result, this year, in the Greater Sydney, Blue Mountains, Central Coast and Wollongong areas, its twice-weekly drop of hot-ticket items will be slightly more limited.
“As the lockdown continues, we have expanded our measures to protect our customers,” says an ALDI Australia rep. “By analysing historic sales data, we are removing a range of high-demand Special Buys, like weighted blankets, TVs and outdoor furniture from our Wednesday and Saturday on-sale dates in stores located in NSW lockdown areas.
“We will be communicating the products each week to our customers. We understand that specific Special Buys drive increased demand and we believe pulling these offers will reduce the reason for someone to leave their home outside of the need to do essential shopping.”
ALDI’s Special Buys feature everything from clothing and furniture, to homewares and electronics. Pulled high-demand items include a digital rice cooker, hot water dispenser and — an item that many experiencing anxiety in lockdown areas might be needing right now — a weighted blanket.
And while there’s no official word yet on when those high-demand Special Buys will be available again in-stores NSW lockdown areas, it’s worth keeping tabs on ALDI’s online store to see if any of the removed in-store items pop up there.
Back in May, the retailer announced a limited trial of online-exclusive Special Buys, available to selected postcodes in NSW, VIC and QLD. Currently, a 12kg Top Load Washing Machine ($599), a matte-black Veronini Sink Mixer Tap ($249) and a Segway Ninebot Kickscooter ($349) are up on the site.
You can keep updated on the online exclusive Special Buys here. And for the regularly updated list of removed Special Buys and affected stores, visit High-demand Special Buys removal.
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